Historian and author David McCullough, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, will give a talk on Sept. 26 at 4 p.m. in Robsham Theater. He has written books on Harry S. Truman, John Adams, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Wright brothers, among other topics. He is also a narrator, most notably of “The Civil War” by Ken Burns and the feature film “Seabiscuit.” His books, Truman and John Adams, have been adapted by HBO into a TV film and a miniseries, respectively. Boston College presented McCullough with an honorary degree at Commencement 2008. His speech from that day is included in the new book, The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For, a collection of his talks from the past 25 years. Note: Doors open at 3:30 p.m. and seating is based on a first-come, first-served basis. A book signing precedes his talk at 3 p.m. Sponsor: Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics/Clough Colloquium.
David McCullough
The inner experience
University of Nevada Professor of Psychology Russell Hurlburt will present “Exploring Inner Experience: Implications for Psychology and Neuroscience” on Sept. 22 at 4 p.m. in Gasson Hall, room 305. Hurlburt is co-author of Describing Inner Experience?: Proponent Meets Skeptic, in which he and his co-author (a philosopher) debate to what extent it is possible for a person to describe his or her inner experience accurately. Sponsor: The Boston College Lonergan Institute.
Scalia’s Constitution
R. Shep Melnick, the Thomas P. O’Neill Jr. Professor of American Politics, is among the legal scholars, philosophers, and political scientists who have contributed to the new book Scalia’s Constitution: Essays on Law and Education (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2017). The book, edited by Paul Peterson and Michael McConnell, looks at how education and law intersect through the late Associate Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s rulings. Scalia’s Constitution explores the application of Scalia’s textualism and originalism to education law and reflects upon Scalia’s teachings and his pedagogy. Melnick’s contributed article is titled “Scalia’s Dilemmas as a Conservative Jurist.” | Melnick will serve as a panelist at a Harvard Program on Education Policy and Governance-sponsored discussion of Scalia’s Constitution on September 15, hosted by the Hoover Institution in Washington, D.C. The discussion will be streamed live at 11:00 a.m.
Posted in Boston College Authors
Tagged education, law, Political Science department, Supreme Court
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Flowing Tides
Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin, a leading authority on Irish traditional music, will present on his new book, Flowing Tides: History and Memory in an Irish Soundscape, on Sept. 13 at 6:30 p.m. at Connolly House, 300 Hammond St. Following his talk will be a concert. A cultural historian, anthropologist and ethnomusicologist, Ó hAllmhuráin holds All Ireland titles on concertina, uilleann pipes, and is a member of the Kilfenora Céilí Band. Registration in advance is requested. Sponsor: Center for Irish Programs.
Golinkin at First Year Academic Convocation
Alumnus Lev Golinkin, author of the memoir A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka, will be the keynote speaker at First Year Academic Convocation on Sept. 7, at 7 p.m., in Conte Forum. Golinkin’s book is a heartbreaking and hilarious story of his Jewish family’s escape from Soviet oppression. Golinkin’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe and Time.com. Other authors who have spoken at First Year Academic Convocation include Colum McCann, Ann Patchett, and Dave Eggers, among others. More from BC News.
Posted in Alumni Authors
Tagged First Year Academic Convocation, Jewish, memoir, Soviet Union
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The man behind the Ice Bucket Challenge
Boston College alumnus Dave Wedge has co-authored a new book about fellow BC grad Pete Frates, the inspiration behind the Ice Bucket Challenge, which raised millions of dollars for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) research. Frates, a former BC Baseball captain, was diagnosed with ALS in 2012 at age 27. In The Ice Bucket Challenge: Pete Frates and the Fight against ALS (ForeEdge/University Press of New England, 2017) Wedge and co-author Casey Sherman tell the story of the man behind the viral fundraising and awareness campaign. According to the publisher, The Ice Bucket Challenge is a “testament to the power of love, the steadfastness of family, the generosity of strangers, and the compassion of crowds.” Wedge and Sherman are also the authors of Boston Strong: A City’s Triumph over Tragedy, a book about the bombings at the Boston Marathon. | Read an excerpt in the New York Daily News.
The Ends of the World
The world has ended five times: it has been broiled, frozen, poison-gassed, smothered, and pelted by asteroids. In The Ends of the World (Harper Collins, 2017), science journalist Peter Brannen dives deep, exploring Earth’s past dead ends, and in the process, offers a glimpse of a possible future. Part road trip, part history, and part cautionary tale, The Ends of the World tells the story of each extinction through examination of the fossil record and introduces the researchers who, using the forensic tools of modern science, are piecing together what really happened. Brannen is a Boston College alumnus who has written for the New York Times, The Atlantic, Wired, Washington Post, Slate, Boston Globe, Aeon, and others. Read a Boston College Magazine essay adapted from his book.
New constitutional law resource
BC Law School Professor Richard Albert, an editor at I-CONnect, the blog of the International Journal of Constitutional Law, and Law School Professor Vlad Perju, director of BC’s Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy, have established a partnership between their two organizations that has resulted in the publication of a new resource for learning about constitutions from around the world. The Global Review of Constitutional Law will assemble reports that provide an overview of constitutional developments and cases in individual jurisdictions during the previous calendar year. The first edition of the e-book includes 44 jurisdictions, ranging from Finland to Romania to Zambia. According to co-editor Albert, “The reports in this first-of-its-kind volume offer readers systematic knowledge that, previously, has been limited mainly to local networks rather than a broader readership. By making this information available to the larger field of public law in an easily digestible format, we aim to increase the base of knowledge upon which scholars and judges can draw.”
Jesuit-Catholic leadership
Boston College alumnus Maduabuchi Leo Muoneme, S.J. is the author of a new book, The Hermeneutics of Jesuit Leadership in Higher Education (Routledge, 2017). Fr. Muoneme interviewed seven Jesuits who served as university leaders, as well as University of Notre Dame President Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C., for this critical analysis of the common values, philosophies, and leadership practices of Jesuit-Catholic university presidents. He looks at the impact the men’s spirituality had on their leadership styles, and the effect their leadership styles had on university policy and culture. Fr. Muoneme, who earned his master’s degree from the Lynch School of Education, is a lecturer and special adviser to the vice chancellor at Veritas University—the Catholic University of Nigeria, Abuja.
Out of this world
Boston College graduate Gina Damico has published Waste of Space (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017), a novel geared for teens and young adults. What comes next in the world of television when it feels like everything has already been done? A TV executive decides to launch 10 teens into space and broadcast their journey for an out-of-this-world reality show called “Waste of Space.” The show is a tremendous success, with millions of people tuning in. But the cast members and the audience are unaware that the production is a fake. According to Kirkus Review, “Like the TV show it’s about, nothing in this novel is as it seems, but the journey to discover the truth is out of this world.” Damico’s previous works include, Wax, Hellhole, and the Croak trilogy.
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